Vim user here. Is this functionality not widely known in the Emacs world? In Vim's normal mode, gf will do the same thing and I'm under the impression it's a pretty widely used command.
I have been a user of Vim as well as Emacs. Vim's gf command and M-x ffap RET of Emacs were both known to me since my early days of using these editors.
it's known but not put forth as much as vim it seems. a case of subpar defaults in a way